Patent attributes
There is provided a continuous time cross-correlator comprising: a quantizer for quantizing the incoming signal into discrete levels; a delay line comprising one or more delay units separating a plurality of delay line taps; for each of said delay line taps, a comparator for comparing the signal level of the delay line tap with a correlation value; a continuous time counter for taking the outputs of the plurality of comparators as its inputs, counting the results of the comparisons and outputting the results of the comparisons; and an output comparator for comparing the counter output with a threshold value. The cross-correlator provides for high speed continuous time cross-correlation with low power consumption and a small chip area. Methods of continuous time cross correlation are also provided.